As long as people need homes, they will need home maintenance. And today, more and more home maintenance is being performed by professional labor. It is much more common these days to see both the husband and wife each with their own career working outside the home. But rather than take time away from family and friends to do the work themselves, homeowners are becoming more and more inclined to outsource the work. As our population ages, baby boomers are also physically unable to perform many home repair projects themselves. As a result, “do it yourself” is becoming less common. There is little time or desire for the typical family to perform home maintenance chores themselves. Consequently, bringing in professional outside help is often the only alternative.
Over 3 million homes are bought and sold in the U.S. each year. 42% of new home buyers face unexpected repairs after moving in. Most of these new homeowners will remodel within 18 months of their purchase. And skilled craftsmen perform 78% of all remodeling work. Baby Boomers are also gobbling up second homes at a record rate. And second homes are almost exclusively maintained by hired labor. Americans are projected to purchase almost 1,000 second homes every day from now until the year 2010. Also, spending on home improvements tops 150 billion dollars annually, and it is expected to grow by approximately 30 billion dollars every year. Is it any wonder that in January, 2004 Entrepreneur magazine rated home improvement as one of the hottest trends in franchising?
So now that we understand the trends in the industry, how does one take advantage of these growing trends? A home repair or “handyman” franchise is a great way to enter this growing field. The primary reason that you would want to own a franchised handyman business vs. an independent handyman business comes down to one word: credibility.
You can probably pick up your local yellow page directory and find many “handymen” listed in the directory. But how many are creditable? How does a homeowner find someone who is both qualified and reputable? When you scour the yellow page directory how do you know if you are contacting a professional, established company with many tradesmen that are qualified to do your work, or just a guy with a set of tools and a beat up pickup truck? Getting work done properly, on time, and within budget is a huge concern for all homeowners. Generally, a franchised handyman business, with the clout and support of a franchisor, will be a reputable company that can be relied on. And if that is true, I have to believe that a franchised handyman business will generate significantly greater sales than an independent handyman business. Even though a franchisee will have to pay ongoing royalty payments to a franchisor, these costs will be more than compensated by the increase in revenue.
The biggest misnomer in this industry is that in order to own a handyman franchise one has to have a certain level of expertise in one or more construction related fields. Not true. You don't need to be a skilled craftsperson, and you don’t have to know the home improvement industry. Handyman franchisors are looking for partners to work on a business, not in one. They are seeking someone who knows how to run the company. Someone who can manage the jobs, the labor force, the sales and marketing, and the overall operations of the company. The company will hire the skilled craftsmen to do the actual work needed.
One handyman opportunity that I really like is Handyman Matters. This company has been franchising since 2001 and already has 134 franchisees. This tells me that they are successful. If you would like more information on this franchise opportunity or any other home services franchises, please visit our web site at www.theFranchiseMarket.com.
Looking for a "Handy" Franchise Opportunity? - To learn more about this author, visit Tom Parsley's Website.
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